Keys college theater loses group's support
The departure of Rodel cited as big reason
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The Performing Arts Centers for Key West, which operates the Tennessee Williams Theatre on Stock Island, will no longer be a direct support organization of Florida Keys Community College.
Bryan Green, vice president of the PACKW board, said dropping the designation as a DSO is a bit of housekeeping left over from 2003-04.
Originally, Ann Henderson, who was a member of the college board as well as a director of the Performing Arts Centers board, suggested the DSO as a "conduit to some funding," Green said.
However, public and private grants promised never materialized and Green said the organization now finds itself like many arts and cultural groups in the Keys -- struggling to replace money lost from endowments or benefactors who've reduced their giving or simply stopped giving.
The Performing Arts Center group lost $50,000 when the Rodel Foundation pulled the plug. "All of us in the arts community are in the same group," Green said.
Henderson resigned from the college board last year when she moved upstate.
At the Oct. 26 FKCC trustees meeting, Vice President of Finance and Administration John Kehoe introduced the Performing Arts Center issue with a letter from Green. Kehoe advised trustees there's a major expense looming to construct a fire curtain on the stage area at the theater.
The cost is estimated at $80,000 and Kehoe said a grant approved by the Tourist Development Council would pay half.
FKCC trustee Anne O'Bannon asked what the PACKW pays in rent to the college for use of the theater.
The performing arts group pays $1 per year, Kehoe said, and pays costs associated with running the theater, including staff salaries and maintenance. The college owns the building and pays for utilities and repairs, which will include the fire curtain required by the city fire marshal.
The college also gets to use the theater up to 30 days a year at no charge.
To help subsidize the cost of running the theater, PACKW charges other groups a fee ranging from $250 for nonprofits using the theater for rehearsals to $1,350 for commercial companies to rent the theater for one performance.
There are separate fees for use of the lobby and fees assessed for cleaning, to cover insurance and a ticketing fee for performances.
The center also charges for use of technicians, house manager, stagehands and box-office staff.
Among the groups that use the Tennessee Williams Theatre are the Key West Symphony Orchestra, Key West Pops, the Keys Chorale and the Nutcracker Key West.
Green said the Performing Arts Center board's mission "is to be self-sustaining" and provide a venue for the performing arts in Key West.
The Performing Arts Center took over operation of the theater in 2000-01 when it looked like FKCC would no longer subsidize the facility, Green said. Originally, the theater was run by the Founder's Society, which helped raise the money to build it.
